INSTAAR Societal Outreach

Societal Outreach

Recent examples

Outreach web sites launched by Detlev Helmig and colleagues:
Trees & VOCs | Ozone & the Oceans

2003-2004 Outreach Summary

Over the last few years, societal outreach and informal educational opportunities have become a more important part of INSTAAR’s mission. The institute continues to present its popular Open House annually. Undergraduate students are often mentored through hands-on research projects. Younger students are also mentored as part of annual science fair projects at the K–12 level. A particularly effective effort led to the creation and distribution of a children’s book on mountain hydrology and ecology, which was received enthusiastically during presentations at local elementary schools. Outreach is facilitated with an expanded and improved INSTAAR website, and with a variety of online initiatives for sharing and illustrating scientific information. On a day-to-day basis, INSTAAR members respond to inquiries from the public and the media on the broad spectrum of scientific matters that relate to INSTAAR’s research. They regularly give lectures and presentations to schools and civic groups, and provide TV and radio interviews for the popular press.		Ken Mack (INSTAAR), group nine leader, shares his team spirit with several eighth graders, INSTAAR Open House, Boulder Colorado, April 2004. Photo: D. Lubinski (INSTAAR).
In April 2003, INSTAAR continued its successful series of Open Houses by hosting 189 eighth graders from Southern Hills Middle School and Sojourner Charter School. The energetic students collected samples and learned about relationships among stream flow, water quality, and insect ecology at nearby Boulder Creek. By visiting a few of the many labs at INSTAAR and the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC), the students learned how materials such as bones and soils are radiocarbon dated, how climate controls the extent of glaciers and sea ice, and how climate is recorded in ice cores. In addition to the hands-on exercises, the students participated in lectures on Neanderthals as well as greenhouse gases and global change. Students also explored mountains and glaciers in Alaska through an immersive 3-D virtual reality facility, courtesy of the BP Center for Visualization. The Open House helped convey the diverse aspects of earth science, use of sophisticated instrumentation and modeling, and the relevance of earth science for important global and local issues.		Two eighth-grade students answer questions about radiocarbon dating of bones, INSTAAR Open House, Boulder Colorado, April 2004. Samples measured in the radiocarbon lab are used to aid in understanding of geology, archeology, and climate change. Photo: D. Lubinski (INSTAAR).
The following year, also in April, INSTAAR expanded the Open House by hosting 345 students from Southern Hills Middle School, Peak-to-Peak Charter School, and the Bridge School. Similar to the past, the students were divided into groups to participate in lab tours, lectures, science games, and stream sampling activities. The students learned how climate is recorded in ice and sediment cores, how the Vikings settled Iceland, how materials such as bones and soils are radiocarbon dated, how giant animals lived in Australia during the recent past, and how greenhouse gases are affecting our atmosphere. The students also learned how glaciers work by “flying” through a 3-D landscape of Alaska and how tree rings record past droughts in Colorado. In addition, the students studied stream ecology by collecting water and insects while measuring streamflow. Students’ knowledge of Antarctica was tested during a fun quiz show run by staff of the adjacent National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC), including Ted Scambos.		Ted Scambos (NSIDC, National Snow and Ice Data Center) quizzes a group of eighth-grade students on their knowledge of Antarctica, INSTAAR-NSIDC Open House, Boulder Colorado, April 2004. NSIDC has joined open house efforts with INSTAAR for a number of years. The NSIDC game show in 2004 was very popular. The first student to hit their buzzer and answer correctly got a small prize. Photo: D. Lubinski (INSTAAR).
INSTAAR faculty, researchers, and graduate students visited several area elementary schools to hand-deliver and speak from copies of a new children’s book, My Water Comes from the Mountains, written by Tiffany Fourment. A local environmental educator, Fourment began writing the book as a project for a summer field course, Alpine Ecology and Experiential Learning, taught by Diane McKnight at the Mountain Research Station. The Niwot Ridge LTER program assisted with production of the book, as well as with distribution to every 3-4 grade science class in the Boulder Valley and St. Vrain School Districts.		Diane McKnight (INSTAAR, in green) and Tiffany Fourment (CU Boulder Alum, with backpack) lead a group of elementary students on a field trip to Niwot Ridge LTER, near Ward Colorado, July 2004. The students participated in the trip as part of a two-week course at the Wild Bear Science and nature Center in Nederland, Colorado. Photo: C.A. Cass (CU Boulder).
INSTAAR continued strong involvement with several CU initiatives to directly involve undergraduates and minority students in scientific research. These included the Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) program, the Summer Multicultural Access to Research Training (SMART) program, the Significant Opportunities in Atmospheric Research and Science (SOARS) program, and others.		Michelle Huyser (Calvin College, Michigan), a participant in the Research Experiences for Undergraduates program run at the Mountain Research Station, measuring soil temperatures, as part of a project investigating plant species effects on soil microbial activity, Niwot Ridge LTER area, Colorado, June 2004. Photo: W. Bowman (INSTAAR).

Other outreach highlights for 2003 and 2004 include:

INSTAAR personnel judged several science fairs, ranging from individual schools to regional and state fairs.
Theresa Denison and Veronica Carrasco, seniors at Centaurus High School, won several prizes in regional science fairs in spring 2004 based on their team research done under the mentorship of INSTAAR graduate student Rose Cory. Their work has helped deduce seasonal changes in the chemistry and redox state of dissolved organic matter in Nymph Lake, Rocky Mountain National Park.
Tyler Benton, a junior at Stratton High School in eastern Colorado, won science fair prizes for his research mentored by INSTAAR Dendrochronology Lab manager Jeff Lukas. His work used moisture-sensitive tree-ring chronologies, including one that he helped collect near Eldorado Springs, to reconstruct variability in soil moisture for the Platte Climate Division (northeast Colorado) since 1541.
Bill Bowman was interviewed for the Earth & Sky radio program to help listeners better understand the science of biodiversity studies and the consequences of its loss in mountain areas. The Earth & Sky radio series is a 90- second science radio program broadcast daily by 688 radio stations in the United States and many more throughout the world.
James Dixon was a particularly active speaker, including numerous public radio interviews, public lectures at venues from Colorado and Alaska to Russia, and an appearance on a NOVA documentary.
Nel Caine, James Dixon, Mark Dyurgerov, Tim Kittel, Craig Lee, and Tad Pfeffer were interviewed by Jim Erickson of the Rocky Mountain News for a series of three stories centered on environmental change in the Colorado alpine. The stories documented how Front Range glaciers are declining, lake ice is thinning, and some snow banks are receding to expose animal remains more than 2,000 years old.
The Mountain Research Station continues to participate in educational experiences for the general public, aimed at policy decisions that affect our environment. The TundraCam and Niwot Ridge climate stations are popular sites for web visitors. Several K–12 courses also use the MRS as a site to introduce students to field environmental science. Also, an Alpine Ecology course that trains inservice and preservice K–12 educators was taught at the station both years.
Connie Woodhouse and David Anderson continued their efforts to make paleoclimatology data available via the Internet from the World Data Center for Paleoclimatology (www.ncdc.noaa.gov/paleo). Major accomplishments included the development of a fire history database, the development of an expanded archive of data from marine sediments, and a web site that describes abrupt climate change issues and includes links to paleoclimate data that document abrupt climate change.
William Manley used a Geographic Information System (GIS) to create a movie showing how the Bering Land Bridge evolved after the Last Glacial Maximum, about 21,000 years ago (instaar.colorado.edu/QGISL). The visualization— with over 20,000 online visits thus far— reveals large-scale patterns of shifting coastlines and environments as sea level rose, blocking migration routes for humans and animals.
As a part of an NSF-IGERT funded grant, Nataly Ascarrunz and Sasha Reed are meeting with indigenous populations of Eastern Bolivia to conduct community discussions regarding climate change and to enable the monitoring of local climate.
INSTAAR gradate students Sasha Reed and Nataly Ascarrunz also volunteered with the Expanding Your Horizons program whose goal is to ensure that young women have ample exposure to math and science.
Alan Townsend wrote seven columns in 2003 about “The Changing World” for the Boulder Daily Camera. Townsend’s column was focused on the environment, with topics ranging from the effects of fertilizer to developments in motor vehicle technology.
Bob Stallard was strongly involved with an innovative field, classroom, and online initiative with the nonprofit Jason Foundation for Education. As a Host Researcher, Bob provided expertise in watershed and terrestrial studies for a multidisciplinary, multimedia project on “Panama’s Tropical Forests and Global Environmental Change.” The Jason Foundation was founded by Dr. Robert Ballard of Titanic fame, and reaches students around the world at www.jasonproject.org.

Bruce Vaughn (INSTAAR) makes a batch of homemade ice cream using liquid nitrogen in order to feed the many INSTAAR and NSIDC volunteers who participated in the Open House for 345 students, Boulder Colorado, April 2004. Photo: D. Lubinski (INSTAAR).

A large group of eighth graders are led in a game of "simon says" while waiting for their buses to arrive after the INSTAAR Open House, Boulder Colorado, April 2004. Photo: D. Lubinski (INSTAAR).

See Also:

Past Outreach Reports
2001 Student Open House
Science Spotlights (including other outreach examples)